Vincent M. Mallozzi is a "New York Times" reporter who covers sports, metropolitan, and society news. He has written three books on basketball, including "Asphalt Gods: An Oral History of the Rucker Tournament." He was a producer of the ESPN basketball documentary "Big in the Mind," the story of the New York streetball legend Joe Hammond, and is a member of the Pro Rucker Basketball Hall of Fame.
Mallozzi's professional basketball career, with the Brooklyn Wonders of the ABA in December 2006, lasted 91 seconds. (The playing time came in exchange for a Sunday column in the "New York Times.") Born and raised in East Harlem, Mallozzi is a graduate of St. John's University, where he was later a professor of journalism, and of the Technical University of Budapest in Hungary. He now lives in Aberdeen, New Jersey, with his wife, Cathy, and their three sons, Christopher, Michael, and Mark.